Representatives Of Federal Agencies Research Articles

Visioning the future of Aquaculture in Hawai‘i

The University of Hawai‘i Aquaculture Program and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary (sanctuary) co-hosted “Ho‘olālā i ka mahii‘a o kēia mua aku”, a workshop focused on visioning the future of aquaculture in Hawai‘i. The workshop offered an opportunity to bring diverse stakeholders together to facilitate a dialogue on issues regarding aquaculture in Hawai‘i and to build relationships to promote future collaborations. Topics of discussion included food safety and security - sustaining local communities by enhancing locally produced and consumed foods; stimulating job creation while conserving natural and cultural resources, existing and future aquaculture projects, considerations for project siting and national aquaculture policies. A Workshop Advisory Team (WAT) was formed to plan the workshop and was comprised of cultural advisors, community and stakeholder representatives, and state and federal agency representatives. The WAT identified a workshop process, content, and potential participants. The workshop was the first of a series of planned discussions and brought together cultural and fishpond practitioners, community members, farmers, business and food industry representatives, subject matter experts, state and federal agency representatives and marine resource managers. The first day of the workshop was an information-sharing day open to the public. The format included presentations and panel discussions with opportunities for questions and answers. Presentations were provided on topics including: • Historical context of aquaculture in Hawai‘i • Current aquaculture activities in Hawai‘i • A national perspective of aquaculture • The role of the Department of Land and Natural Resources in the oversight of aquaculture in the State of Hawai‘i. Panel discussions included: Native Hawaiian aquaculture practices; today’s open ocean aquaculture; and cultural and environmental considerations in aquaculture practices. The remaining two days of the workshop focused on identifying common ground among the diverse participants to stimulate value-based discussions among multiple stakeholder groups. The remainder of the workshop focused on the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) strategic planning process for invited participants. Appreciate Inquiry is a process that identifies areas of common ground within a diverse group and is highly effective in stimulating discussions based on shared values among multiple stakeholders through a series of iterative and interactive sessions. The “Ho‘olālā i ka mahii‘a o kēia mua aku” workshop provided an opportunity for diverse stakeholders to expand participation in aquaculture-related conversations that involve cultural, community, economic, and natural resource interests. By utilizing the Appreciate Inquiry strategic planning process, facilitators worked with participants to identify commonalities and shared values that promote relationship building and allow for future collaborations. Discussions served to share and increase participants knowledge of a variety of issues including food safety and security - sustaining local communities by enhancing locally produced and consumed foods; stimulating job creation while conserving natural and cultural resources, existing and future aquaculture projects, considerations for project siting and national aquaculture policies. Additionally, it was recognized that although the workshop was an important step in visioningthe future of aquaculture in Hawai‘i, ongoing discussions will have to include additionalcommunities and stakeholder representatives to engage others in the process. To that end, fishpond revitalization and restoration were recognized as an important issue for many participants and there was agreement that a follow-up workshop should be planned for fishpond practitioners and agencies to discuss obstacles and challenges to fishpond restoration. This workshop will serve as an important venue to continue sharing knowledge and experiences relative to engaging community members to provide input in considering the future of aquaculture in Hawai‘i. This report provides an account of “Ho‘olālā i ka mahii‘a o kēia mua aku” workshop, a historical context and information on current aquaculture activities in Hawai‘i, and supplemental information regarding aquaculture projects globally. The intent of the report is to provide transparency and share information more broadly with those who did not participate in the workshop.

Effective Stakeholder Engagement for Offshore Wind Energy Development: The State of New York's Fisheries and Environmental Technical Working Groups

AbstractThe offshore wind (OSW) energy industry is rapidly developing in the United States. New federal mandates require at least 30 GW of OSW by 2030. With the largest goal in the eastern United States, the state of New York seeks to advance OSW in a way that is both environmentally and socially responsible as well as cost‐effective. To achieve this, New York developed technical working groups (TWGs) in 2017 focused on critical topics relating to OSW energy development, including the Fisheries Technical Working Group and Environment Technical Working Group (F‐TWG and E‐TWG; collectively, “the TWGs”). The TWGs are composed of OSW developers, fishing industry (F‐TWG) or environmental nongovernmental organizations (E‐TWG), federal agency representatives, and state representatives from Maine to North Carolina. These groups advise the state of New York on OSW issues by emphasizing the use of science and technical expertise to inform decision making. The effectiveness of TWG collaborations is due to a variety of reasons, including the regional scale of stakeholder involvement, which allows the groups to develop guidance at an appropriate geographic scale relative to OSW and fishing activities and wildlife populations. The regional collaboration and communication fostered by the TWGs are essential for building trust among stakeholder groups and working collectively to minimize fisheries and environmental impacts as the OSW industry progresses. This paper highlights the OSW stakeholder engagement process and approach implemented by New York through the development of TWGs, as a means of identifying needs for environmental and fisheries resources to inform responsible OSW development within New York and regionally across the eastern United States. The lessons learned from the TWG process can be used to inform stakeholder engagement efforts in other locations.

The Second National Workshop on Marine eDNA: A workshop to accelerate the incorporation of eDNA science into environmental management applications

AbstractThe Second National Workshop on Environmental DNA was held on September 12–15, 2022, at the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) in Southern California and was focused on transitioning eDNA from research to management applications. The Workshop was attended by 150 people in‐person and an additional 200 more online. Workshop attendees represented a broad cross‐section of disciplines and backgrounds, including research scientists, state, and federal agencies, and those in the environmental management sector. This diverse collection of attendees assembled with the goal of achieving cross‐sector collaboration and working together to identify the necessary next steps to move eDNA methods into the management application mainstream. The Workshop structure included a Training Day oriented towards environmental managers and those new to eDNA science, to facilitate a common ground for discussions on subsequent days. The Plenary Day focused on case studies about eDNA applications and culminated with a roundtable panel discussion with local, state, and federal agency representatives on eDNA method readiness and the road to method adoption. Among the key takeaways from the Workshop was bridging the communication gap between researchers and managers because scientists often focus on technical details and the unknowns, giving the impression that eDNA science is not yet mature, whereas managers want to hear consensus statements about readiness and a roadmap for method adoption, including standard operating procedures, lab accreditation, and unified sequence libraries. This outcome was a clear directive for many scientists in attendance that it is time to stop letting perfect be the enemy of good and to focus future efforts on method harmonization and a national strategy towards method adoption. The Workshop concluded with a working session of invited participants to identify key priorities and needs to achieve the goals highlighted in the Workshop discussions.

Opportunities and barriers to forest biomass energy: A case study of four U.S. states

Forest bioenergy is discussed in the literature as a potential mechanism to achieve multiple forest management and energy policy goals, and remains the subject of state and federal policy deliberations. In practice, forest bioenergy faces challenges from wavering public support and the availability of increasingly lower cost natural gas, wind, and solar energy. Here, we investigate the experience of stakeholders with forest bioenergy systems in four states—California, Florida, Minnesota, and New Hampshire—to better understand present-day barriers to and opportunities for continued operation of existing facilities and the potential deployment of new capacity. Building on insight generated from interviews with key informants at the national level, we conducted a comparative case study based on facility documents and interviews with facility managers, utility representatives, federal agency representatives, clean energy advocates, and other relevant stakeholders. We find that forest bioenergy often lacks a natural constituency willing or able to advocate on its behalf in policy deliberations, and that even proven facilities are vulnerable to fluctuations in state and federal policy. We conclude that shifting, uneven support for forest bioenergy impedes durable policy solutions, a condition that likely translates to limited opportunities for additional large, utility-scale facilities at the present time.

National coastal management challenges and needs

In partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program (USGS CMHRP) and the U.S. Coastal Research Program (USCRP), the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA) has identified coastal stakeholders’ top coastal management challenges. Informed by two annual surveys, a multiple-choice online poll was conducted in 2019 to evaluate stakeholders’ most pressing problems and needs, including those they felt most ill-equipped to deal with in their day-to-day duties and which tools they most need to address these challenges. The survey also explored where users find technical information and what is missing. From these results, USGS CMHRP, USCRP, ASBPA, and other partners aim to identify research needs that will inform appropriate investments in useful science, tools, and resources to address today’s most pressing coastal challenges. The 15-question survey yielded 134 complete responses with an 80% completion rate from coastal stakeholders such as local community representatives and their industry consultants, state and federal agency representatives, and academics. Respondents from the East, Gulf, West, and Great Lakes coasts, as well as Alaska and Hawaii, were represented. Overall, the prioritized coastal management challenges identified by the survey were: Deteriorating ecosystems leading to reduced (environmental, recreational, economic, storm buffer) functionality, Increasing storminess due to climate change (i.e. more frequent and intense impacts), Coastal flooding, both Sea level rise and associated flooding (e.g. nuisance flooding, king tides), and Combined effects of rainfall and surge on urban flooding (i.e. episodic, short-term), Chronic beach erosion (i.e. high/increasing long-term erosion rates), and Coastal water quality, including harmful algal blooms (e.g. red tide, sargassum). A careful, systematic, and interdisciplinary approach should direct efforts to identify specific research needed to tackle these challenges. A notable shift in priorities from erosion to water-related challenges was recorded from respondents with organizations initially formed for beachfront management. In addition, affiliation-specific and regional responses varied, such as Floridians concern more with harmful algal blooms than any other human and ecosystem health related challenge. The most common need for additional coastal management tools and strategies related to adaptive coastal management to maintain community resilience and continuous storm barriers (dunes, structures), as the top long-term and extreme event needs, respectively. In response to questions about missing information that agencies can provide, respondents frequently mentioned up-to-date data on coastal systems and solutions to challenges as more important than additional tools.

Remediation management of complex sites using an adaptive site management approach

Complex sites require a disproportionate amount of resources for environmental remediation and long timeframes to achieve remediation objectives, due to their complex geologic conditions, hydrogeologic conditions, geochemical conditions, contaminant-related conditions, large scale of contamination, and/or non-technical challenges. A recent team of state and federal environmental regulators, federal agency representatives, industry experts, community stakeholders, and academia worked together as an Interstate Technology & Regulatory Council (ITRC) team to compile resources and create new guidance on the remediation management of complex sites. This article summarizes the ITRC team's recommended process for addressing complex sites through an adaptive site management approach. The team provided guidance for site managers and other stakeholders to evaluate site complexities and determine site remediation potential, i.e., whether an adaptive site management approach is warranted. Adaptive site management was described as a comprehensive, flexible approach to iteratively evaluate and adjust the remedial strategy in response to remedy performance. Key aspects of adaptive site management were described, including tools for revising and updating the conceptual site model (CSM), the importance of setting interim objectives to define short-term milestones on the journey to achieving site objectives, establishing a performance model and metrics to evaluate progress towards meeting interim objectives, and comparing actual with predicted progress during scheduled periodic evaluations, and establishing decision criteria for when and how to adapt/modify/revise the remedial strategy in response to remedy performance. Key findings will be published in an ITRC Technical and Regulatory guidance document in 2017 and free training webinars will be conducted. More information is available at www.itrc-web.org.

The Arthurdale Community School: Education and Reform in Depression Era Appalachia by Sam F. Stack Jr.

Reviewed by: The Arthurdale Community School: Education and Reform in Depression Era Appalachia by Sam F. Stack Jr. Barbara J. Howe The Arthurdale Community School: Education and Reform in Depression Era Appalachia. By Sam F. Stack Jr. (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2016. P. 197.) This review must begin with a disclaimer: I introduced the author, Sam F. Stack, to Arthurdale. However, we did not collaborate on this book, which is part of Dwight B. Billings’s series entitled Place Matters: New Directions in Appalachian Studies. Place definitely matters, for Arthurdale, West Virginia, was the first federal New Deal subsistence homestead community. Elsie Clapp is the focal person in this story in her roles as principal of the Arthurdale school and director of community affairs. To introduce us to the two years she worked in Arthurdale, Stack provides extensive background on the development of progressive education, her discipleship with John Dewey, and her career before 1934, especially her work at the Ballard School near Louisville, Kentucky. He also provides background both on the economic situation in the Scotts Run area outside Morgantown that drove the initiative to move displaced miners to Arthurdale and on the Country Life Movement already on President Franklin Roosevelt’s mind by 1933. West Virginia University’s Extension Service had led the Country Life Movement in the state and was active in Scotts Run and the creation of Arthurdale, but Stack’s narrative virtually ignores this partner. Clapp moved to Arthurdale in the summer of 1934, just after the first residents arrived, to establish a school system embodying the best of current thought on progressive education. As director of community affairs, she was responsible for everything from recruiting factories to enforcing the ban on alcohol. It was a Herculean job, and she served only until the summer of 1936, although she maintained a strong interest in Arthurdale thereafter. The American Friends Service Committee, especially Clarence Pickett, receive appropriate credit for their roles in establishing and supporting Arthurdale. Pickett advised Eleanor Roosevelt to ask Clapp to work in Arthurdale. The first lady provided constant oversight and encouragement and, with Bernard Baruch, significant financial support. A National Advisory Committee, including Dewey, Pickett, and representatives of federal agencies, and a West Virginia Advisory School Committee comprised of West Virginia University and local and state school officials, among others, opined on the schools, while parents worried the school was not accredited. Considering the many competing interests at work in Arthurdale, it would have been easy for someone less motivated than Clapp to simply copy the existing Preston County school system in Arthurdale. Instead, Clapp and her staff, some of whom joined her from the Ballard School, established a curriculum for children from nursery school through high school. Starting in [End Page 180] the fall of 1934 with few supplies and classes in makeshift facilities, the school expanded to six buildings by 1936. The curriculum was never just about the “3Rs.” Stack is most effective in explaining how Clapp and her staff focused on the whole child and integrated the school into the curriculum. Nurses addressed health concerns. Children watched adults building their community from the ground up and built their own versions of the town. They learned about pioneer life in a historic log cabin. They made musical instruments and presented public concerts. With most of the emphasis on the nursery school and high school, however, the reader loses track of what happened to students in intervening grades. Stack draws on an extensive bibliography, continuing his narrative after 1936 by focusing on Clapp and the national progressive education movement through the 1950s. There is also some discussion of remaining progressive elements at Arthurdale after the Preston County Board of Education assumed control of the schools. Unfortunately, though, other than a 1941 survey, there are no reflections of those who attended the schools, although there are at least thirty-five oral histories available with homesteaders and their children. It also would be interesting to know if educators in other subsistence homestead communities learned anything from Arthurdale’s experiences, but that is beyond Stack’s scope here. Finally, references to photographs are confusing. The cover photo and the identical one following page...

New linked data on research investments: Scientific workforce, productivity, and public value

Longitudinal micro-data derived from transaction level information about wage and vendor payments made by Federal grants on multiple US campuses are being developed in a partnership involving researchers, university administrators, representatives of Federal agencies, and others. This paper describes the UMETRICS data initiative that has been implemented under the auspices of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation. The resulting data set reflects an emerging conceptual framework for analyzing the process, products, and impact of research. It grows from and engages the work of a diverse and vibrant community. This paper situates the UMETRICS effort in the context of research evaluation and ongoing data infrastructure efforts in order to highlight its novel and valuable features. Refocusing data construction in this field around individuals, networks, and teams offers dramatic possibilities for data linkage, the evaluation of research investments, and the development of rigorous conceptual and empirical models. Two preliminary analyses of the scientific workforce and network approaches to characterizing scientific teams ground a discussion of future directions and a call for increased community engagement.

New Linked Data on Research Investments: Scientific Workforce, Productivity, and Public Value

Longitudinal micro-data derived from transaction level information about wage and vendor payments made by federal grants on multiple U.S. campuses are being developed in a partnership involving researchers, university administrators, representatives of federal agencies, and others. This paper describes the UMETRICS data initiative that has been implemented under the auspices of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation. The resulting data set reflects an emerging conceptual framework for analyzing the process, products, and impact of research. It grows from and engages the work of a diverse and vibrant community. This paper situates the UMETRICS effort in the context of research evaluation and ongoing data infrastructure efforts in order to highlight its novel and valuable features. Refocusing data construction in this field around individuals, networks, and teams offers dramatic possibilities for data linkage, the evaluation of research investments, and the development of rigorous conceptual and empirical models. Two preliminary analyses of the scientific workforce and network approaches to characterizing scientific teams ground a discussion of future directions and a call for increased community engagement.

2013 ACC/AHA Guideline on the Assessment of Cardiovascular Risk

Preamble and Transition to ACC/AHA Guidelines to Reduce Cardiovascular Risk S50 The goals of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) are to prevent cardiovascular diseases (CVD); improve the management of people who have these diseases through professional education and research; and develop guidelines, standards, and policies that promote optimal patient care and cardiovascular health. Toward these objectives, the ACC and AHA have collaborated with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and stakeholder and professional organizations to develop …

2013 AHA/ACC Guideline on Lifestyle Management to Reduce Cardiovascular Risk

2013 AHA/ACC Guideline on Lifestyle Management to Reduce Cardiovascular Risk

Metrics and Collaborations are Key to Creating and Preserving New Observation Records

A potential gap in observations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) series of polar-orbiting satellites highlights the need for crisp metrics demonstrating the value of weather and climate information. That topic and others were discussed at the American Meteorological Society’s (AMS) Washington forum in Washington, D.C., on 26–28 April. The meeting’s participants also agreed on the need to collaborate among federal agencies and among the private, public, and academic sectors; to meet user needs and understand local issues when providing climate services; and to improve communication with the public about climate change (and destigmatize the word “climate”). The flagging economy and federal deficit necessitate that the enterprise do more with less. The AMS’s Commission on the Weather and Climate Enterprise and its Board on Enterprise Economic Development annually host this meeting to assemble members of the weather, water, and climate community along with senior federal agency representatives, congressional staff, and leaders in the private and academic sectors.

Special Interest Capture of Regulatory Agencies: A Ten-Year Analysis of Voting Behavior on Regional Fishery Management Councils

This article tests capture theory by analyzing voting behavior on U.S. Regional Fishery Management Councils. Some seats on the councils are reserved for state and federal agency representatives; others, for political appointees. The political appointees primarily represent special interests (specifically, commercial and recreational fishing interests); a smaller number of appointees represent public interests. We use logistic regression to model the vote of state and federal agency representatives on the councils as a function of the votes of commercial interests, recreational interests, and public interests. We find evidence that some state agencies are captured by special interests from their states, but not systematic evidence across all states. We find that state agency representatives voted with commercial interests from their own state in five of the sixteen states in our sample; with recreational interests in three states; and with both special interests in two states. These ten states support the capture hypothesis; the other six states do not. We find no evidence that federal agencies were captured on the councils. We conclude that the gubernatorial-driven appointment process leads to capture at the state level by promoting voting blocs among state agency representatives and special interests from those states. Federal agency representatives, by contrast, are better able to maintain their distance from state-level politics on the councils, and thereby enhance their ability to vote independently on fishery management measures.

Congress Acts on Classroom Acoustics

You have accessThe ASHA LeaderPolicy Analysis1 Jul 2009Congress Acts on Classroom AcousticsFederal Officials Learn More About the Issue at ASHA Briefing Neil Snyder Neil Snyder Google Scholar More articles by this author https://doi.org/10.1044/leader.PA1.14092009.6 SectionsAbout ToolsAdd to favorites ShareFacebookTwitterLinked In In the span of one week, ASHA enjoyed two significant Capitol Hill successes to promote better classroom acoustics. The House passed legislation that allows federal funds to be used for acoustic improvements and ASHA hosted a briefing attended by more than 50 congressional staff, federal agency representatives, organizations representing people with hearing loss, and a contingent of ASHA audiologists. Public School Improvements Panelists at the classroom acoustics briefing included (from left) 12-year-old Nicole Hubert and her father, Greg; ASHA member Peggy Nelson, professor of audiology at the University of Minnesota; architect Marcus Adrian; and Elizabeth Stewart from the United States Access Board. On May 14, the U.S. House passed H.R. 2187, the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act. This legislation requires the secretary of education to make $6.4 billion in grants available to states for the modernization, renovation, or repair of public schools (including early learning facilities and charter schools) to make them safe, healthy, high-performing, and technologically up-to-date. H.R. 2187 would authorize the grants for fiscal year 2010 and beyond. H.R. 2187 includes provisions that allow school districts to address classroom noise and acoustics in school buildings. The bill now goes to the U.S. Senate for further consideration. ASHA has been working for several months with several congressional offices to improve and expand schools’ abilities to address excessive classroom noise and poor acoustics. H.R. 2187 is similar to legislation considered in 2008 (H.R. 3021) and adds provisions allowing federal grants to be used by school districts to take “measures designed to reduce or eliminate human exposure to classroom noise and environmental noise pollution.” During consideration of H.R. 2187 in the House Education and Labor Committee, Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) offered a two-word amendment allowing schools to use money on “ceilings [and] flooring,” key elements in addressing building noise and acoustics. In remarks on his amendment, Sestak indicated that he was late to the committee mark-up session because he had been meeting with his daughter’s audiologist. His daughter is recovering from brain surgery and is receiving chemotherapy, which has caused hearing loss, he explained. Sestak further noted that his congressional district is on the flight path of Philadelphia International Airport, where planes fly as low as 500 feet. He has received reports of children not being able to hear in their classrooms and has been working with the Federal Aviation Administration on noise abatement. ASHA also worked with Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) to include language on acoustical standards in the bill’s report, encouraging school districts to undertake projects “to reduce or eliminate human exposure to classroom noise and environmental noise pollution.” The report also urges the secretary to consider the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)-approved Standard S12.60-2002 [Acoustical Performance Criteria, Design Requirements, and Guidelines for Schools] in providing technical assistance to schools. “This bill is an important step to help make our schools safer, greener, and better learning environments for our children,” McCarthy said. “Children cannot learn and teachers cannot teach in crumbling, noisy schools where poor physical conditions distract from classroom activities.” ASHA President Sue Hale commended McCarthy’s efforts, saying that “ASHA applauds Rep. McCarthy’s commitment to ensure that children have an appropriate environment in which to learn. Reducing classroom noise and ensuring appropriate acoustics are essential elements to all children’s academic success.” Hill Briefing In May ASHA hosted a Capitol Hill briefing attended by more than 50 individuals, including congressional staff, federal agency representatives, organizations representing individuals with hearing impairment, and ASHA audiologists who were conducting a “Hill Day” advocacy event. The briefing, “Classroom Noise and Acoustics: The Unseen Barriers to Learning,” was moderated by Arlene Pietranton, ASHA executive director. Panelists included Illinois 12-year-old Nicole Hubert, who has bilateral cochlear implants; ASHA member Peggy Nelson, professor of audiology at the University of Minnesota; architect Marcus Adrian; Kenneth Roy, chief acoustician for Armstrong World Industries (manufacturer of acoustic tiles); and Elizabeth Stewart from the United States Access Board, an independent federal agency that ensures access to federally funded facilities and a leading source of information on accessible design. Panelists said that reducing noise and improving acoustics encourages academic progress, does not have to be expensive, and is in practice all over the country. Author Notes Neil Snyder, director of federal advocacy, can be reached at [email protected] or 800-498-2071, ext. 5614. 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Great Lakes Basinwide Botulism Coordination Workshop overview

In June of 2008, the Great Lakes Basinwide Botulism Coordination Workshop was convened to foster collaboration and generate new management ideas in response to type E botulism outbreaks across the Great Lakes Basin. Key researchers, state and federal agency representatives, and non-governmental partners gathered to investigate the feasibility of management actions in light of the current state of knowledge. Topics that were covered included: the history of botulism outbreaks, overviews of current research, and existing management practices and needs. The workshop provided a focused forum in which attendees could identify challenges and set realistic short-term and long-term management goals.

Directions and Needs in Asbestos Research: New Insights: Conference Summary

The Center for Environmental Health Sciences (CEHS) Conference, entitled “Directions and Needs in Asbestos Research: New Insights,” was held at the University of Montana in Missoula. Researchers, physicians, health care workers, and federal agency representatives from around the country met for a cross-disciplinary exploration of many issues related to asbestos research. Topics included community and psychosocial issues in biomedical research, asbestos exposure assessment, assessment and mechanisms of asbestos related diseases, and new research directions. This meeting report is a summary of the conference presentations, and of the topics identified for future research directions. This conference was a follow-up to one hosted by the CEHS in June 2002, and continued to take advantage of opportunities to work with a unique population in Libby MT, where significant asbestos exposures have occurred due to the mining of asbestos-contaminated vermiculite. The goals of this conference were to bring together experts from diverse fields to identify progress made since the last conference and to develop new research avenues that would allow us to address the research needs in emerging asbestos-exposed populations. Participants indicated that these objectives were met, and expressed enthusiasm for follow-up conferences to maintain the dialog that has been established regarding directions and needs in asbestos research. Selected papers from the conference are presented here.

Conference Summary. Directions and Needs in Asbestos Research: New Insights

The Center for Environmental Health Sciences (CEHS) Conference entitled “Directions and Needs in Asbestos Research: New Insights” was held at the University of Montana in Missoula on July 28 and 29, 2005. Researchers, physicians, health care workers, and federal agency representatives from around the country met for a cross-disciplinary exploration of many issues related to asbestos research. Topics included community and psychosocial issues in biomedical research, asbestos exposure assessment, assessment and mechanisms of asbestos-related diseases, and new research directions. This meeting report is a summary of the conference presentations, and of the topics identified for future research directions. This conference was a follow-up to one hosted by the CEHS in June 2002, and continued to take advantage of opportunities to work with a unique population in Libby, MT, where significant asbestos exposures have occurred due to the mining of asbestos-contaminated vermiculite. The goals of this conference were to bring together experts from diverse fields to identify progress made since the last conference and to develop new research avenues that would allow us to address the research needs in emerging asbestos-exposed populations. Participants indicated that these objectives were met, and expressed enthusiasm for follow-up conferences, tentatively planned for the summer of 2007, to maintain the dialog that has been established regarding directions and needs in asbestos research. Selected papers from the conference are presented in this issue of Inhalation Toxicology.

DEVELOPING RESEARCH CRITERIA TO DEFINE MEDICAL NECESSITY IN EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES

“The Neely Conference: Developing Research Criteria to Define Medical Necessity in EMS” convened emergency medical services (EMS) physicians, researchers, administrators, providers, and federal agency representatives to begin the development of a set of uniform triage criteria and outcome measures that could be used to study and evaluate medical necessity among EMS patients. These standardized criteria might be used in research studies examining EMS dispatch and response (e.g., dispatch triage protocols, alternative response configurations), and EMS treatment and transport (e.g., field triage protocols, alternative care destinations). The conference process included review and analysis of the literature, expert judgment, and consensus building. There was general agreement on the following: 1. Any dispatch triage or field triage system that is developed must be designed to offer patients alternatives to EMS, not to refuse care to patients. 2. It is theoretically possible to develop a set of clinical criteria for need. Some groups of patients will clearly need a traditional EMS response and other groups will not, but this has yet to be defined. 3. In addition to clinical criteria, certain social and other nonclinical criteria such as pain or potential abuse may be used to justify a response. 4. Communication barriers, patient age, special needs, and other conditions complicate patient assessment but should not exclude patients from consideration for alternate triage or transport. 5. These research questions are important, and standard sets of outcome measures are needed so that different studies and innovative programs can be compared.

A Community Based Environmental Health Education Project

A long-term partnership between an applied researcher and a particular community can result in numerous positive outcomes. One such result is that after years of continual working in one particular area, a mutual trust develops between the community (residents and organizations) and the investigator. In my case, I have been involved with one particular community for over 30 years; the concept of community operative here is quite broad referring to a specific geographic region, the Mississippi Delta. Mutual trust in this case means that not only can I contact a variety of gatekeepers in the affected community, including individual residents, primary care clinic staff, hospital personnel, and local, state, and federal agency representatives, to solicit their input on a particular health-related query, these same individuals and/or organizations can contact me to seek out my active participation in a particular endeavor of their interest. It is the latter approach I would like to illustrate here with a specific example.

Summary of the updated recommendations from the Public Health Service Task Force to reduce perinatal human immunodeficiency virus-1 transmission in the United States

Within the last decade, substantial advances have been made in the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected pregnant women and in the prevention of perinatal HIV-1 transmission, and recommendations for care continually change. Within this rapidly evolving field, the Public Health Service Task Force Perinatal HIV Guidelines Working Group, which is composed of pediatric and obstetric experts in HIV infection, community representatives, and federal agency representatives, currently meets by monthly conference calls to review new data related to prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission and management of women with HIV infection. This group periodically issues updates to their guidelines, “Public Health Service Task Force Recommendations for Use of Antiretroviral Drugs in Pregnant HIV-1-Infected Women for Maternal Health and Interventions to Reduce Perinatal HIV-1 Transmission in the United States,” which are available on the HIV/AIDS Treatment Information Service Web site (http://www.hivatis.org).